Marquis and the Immorality of Abortion
There are few topics that are as fraught with tension as abortion; it is easily one of the most politically divisive topics. Nine out of ten liberal Democrats say it should be legal in all or most cases, and seven out of ten conservative Republicans say it should be illegal in all or most cases (Pew Research). It is fiercely debated by philosophers and laymen alike in daily life, academic circles, and in state and federal Supreme Courts, and many an individual has crafted an argument supporting or rejecting it. Don Marquis is one of those individuals. He argues against abortion from an angle known as the valuable future view, and his argument is seen as one of the most secular and reasonable anti-abortionist …show more content…
He does not begin by describing the characteristics of a fetus, as so many anti-abortion and pro-choice arguments do. Instead, he begins by investigating the commonly accepted moral assumption that killing a fully grown adult is wrong. Why, he asks, is it wrong to kill an adult? The answer he supplies is that it is not the act of killing itself that is wrong, as the action itself only alters one’s biological state. He instead argues that by killing someone we deprive them of their entire future, including not only everything they do value but everything they ever would value as well, explaining why we perceive murder to be a crime worse than any other. It robs its victim of more than anything else could. As fetuses have a future that is like that of any adult human, aborting a pregnancy is depriving them of that future and therefore, must be morally wrong. This is known as the valuable future view and can be summarized in the following argument, The Valuable Future Argument.
It is morally wrong to kill any adult human because killing them deprives them of all the potential value in their future- that is, their valuable …show more content…
However, in his unsupported assumption that the right not to be killed confers upon you the right to non-consensually use another person’s body, Marquis’ argument fails to support his thesis and in doing so the entire argument fails. In this way, though I have not shown that abortion is moral, I have shown that using the valuable future view does not prove it is immoral. The abortion debate can and likely will rage on for many years to come, but it is clear that Marquis’ participation in it via his failed valuable future view will not
There are few topics that are as fraught with tension as abortion; it is easily one of the most politically divisive topics. Nine out of ten liberal Democrats say it should be legal in all or most cases, and seven out of ten conservative Republicans say it should be illegal in all or most cases (Pew Research). It is fiercely debated by philosophers and laymen alike in daily life, academic circles, and in state and federal Supreme Courts, and many an individual has crafted an argument supporting or rejecting it. Don Marquis is one of those individuals. He argues against abortion from an angle known as the valuable future view, and his argument is seen as one of the most secular and reasonable anti-abortionist …show more content…
He does not begin by describing the characteristics of a fetus, as so many anti-abortion and pro-choice arguments do. Instead, he begins by investigating the commonly accepted moral assumption that killing a fully grown adult is wrong. Why, he asks, is it wrong to kill an adult? The answer he supplies is that it is not the act of killing itself that is wrong, as the action itself only alters one’s biological state. He instead argues that by killing someone we deprive them of their entire future, including not only everything they do value but everything they ever would value as well, explaining why we perceive murder to be a crime worse than any other. It robs its victim of more than anything else could. As fetuses have a future that is like that of any adult human, aborting a pregnancy is depriving them of that future and therefore, must be morally wrong. This is known as the valuable future view and can be summarized in the following argument, The Valuable Future Argument.
It is morally wrong to kill any adult human because killing them deprives them of all the potential value in their future- that is, their valuable …show more content…
However, in his unsupported assumption that the right not to be killed confers upon you the right to non-consensually use another person’s body, Marquis’ argument fails to support his thesis and in doing so the entire argument fails. In this way, though I have not shown that abortion is moral, I have shown that using the valuable future view does not prove it is immoral. The abortion debate can and likely will rage on for many years to come, but it is clear that Marquis’ participation in it via his failed valuable future view will not